Image: Heiltskuk Icefield, British Columbia

Description: This detailed astronaut photograph illustrates the ice-field—mostly covered by snow across the upper mountain slopes—and two major valley glaciers that extend from it. The locations of former valley glaciers can frequently be identified by the presence of these U-shaped valleys on a now glacier-free landscape. The two largest valley glaciers in the image, Silverthrone Glacier and Klinaklini Glacier, both flow towards Knight Inlet to the south (not shown). Several moraines—accumulations of rock and soil debris along the edges and surface of a glacier—are drawn out into long, dark lines by the flowing ice, and they extend along the length of both glaciers. The confluence of the two glaciers at image centre illustrates how a moraine located along the side of a glacier can become a medial moraine, in the centre of the joined ice mass. Smaller valley glaciers are visible near Mount Silverthrone.
Title: Heiltskuk Icefield, British Columbia
Credit: NASA Earth Observatory
Author: NASA Expedition 20 crew
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No